Unspoken Understandings
by Wicked Innuendo
Summary: GOHAN reflects and CHICHI interrupts. A short vignette between mother & son on the strains of living in the SON household. Implied shonen-ai. COMPLETE


Enter standard disclaimer here.  Nope, not mine, not mine at all…damn…

Unspoken Understandings

By: Wicked Innuendo

He tilts his head and stares at his reflection in the mirror.  He sees a young man on the cusp of adulthood; a teenager with dark eyes and darker hair.  Nothing special, really.   At a first glance he looks like an average youth, there isn't anything remarkable about his plain features, perhaps his slightly taller than average frame but that is it.   It's hard to believe that inside this ordinary boy was the power to save the world.

"Gohan!  Are you going to stand there daydreaming all day?"  She stands at the bathroom's doorway and frowns as her ebon gaze went from his unruly hair to the comb held loosely in his fingers.  She takes one long stride, closing the distance between the two in an instant.  "You're going to be late," she cautions sternly, taking the comb from his grasp to run it beneath the cool water leisurely flowing from the tap.   

"Sorry, Mom," he apologizes.  She gives a tiny grunt of acknowledgement, running the comb through his thick disheveled hair.

"What were you thinking about?" she asks, squeezing a generous amount of generic hair gel into her palm and smoothing it through jet black tresses.

"I wasn't thinking about anything." He lies.  Or at least nothing he'd considered sharing with her. 

He dreams.  He dreams of things that he thinks she'd never understand.  He dreams of tomorrow and the day after, or sometimes of things less grandeur like question eight of last night's calculus homework or if that lavender haired boy from the future's lips felt as soft as they looked.

She closes her eyes briefly, inhales deeply for the count of ten seconds.  "What have I told you about that daydreaming?  It ain't ever got anyone nothing.  Besides, you should think about what to ask Bulma instead."  She chastises, jerking the comb through tangles of black.  "Ask her for study tips.  See if she has pointers for your mocler biology class."

"You mean mo_lecu_lar biology."

"Do not correct me," she warns.  "When you get there, remember your manners and be as helpful as possible.  Show plenty of interest in her inventions.  You know how she is.  Good Kami!  I've never seen a woman like to talk about herself as much as Bulma does."  ChiChi's face contorts in an over exaggerated mock visage of fluttering eyelashes and pouty lips,  while raising her voice two octaves in her best Bulma like impersonation.  "I'm so smart and gorgeous and rich.  I'm the smartest woman ever, proof that genius and beauty can come in one pretty package.  Did I mention I was rich too?"  ChiChi's expression becomes sad as her eyes rove over the peeling avocado green and orange floral wallpaper, her tone becomes less enthusiastic and more somber, "I'm so smart and rich with my custom made name brand wallpaper and..and.." she trails off.

_'She's doing it again.  The memory of yesterday written plainly across her face.  Mom always gets that sad wistful expression when she remembers her life before she met Father, before the fire burnt the Ox King fortune along with the castle to cinders, before she lost everything,_' Gohan reflects.

"You forgot, I'm terribly sorry I had no idea my stir fry would give you diarrhea like that," Gohan adds, hoping to lighten her spirits.

She half heartedly laughs, giving his hair one final comb through before added the extra firm hold hair spray.  "It would be nice if you could get an internship at Capsule Corporation for the summer.  How much do you think they would pay?  Enough to buy new wallpaper?"

"Mom, I'm just going over to help her organize her lab—"

"And," she interjects, "It wouldn't hurt to drop a few hints about your interest in working for her."

"Your interests, you mean."

"You show me no respect.  Quit talking back and do as I say because so help me Kami if you bring home another report card with less than a 4.0 average I will personally beat your skull with the biggest cast iron skillet I have until I can see the white meat of your smart-alecky brains.  You got that young man?" She harshly speaks, but he doesn't miss the way her pursed lips betray the barest hint of a smile.

"Y'know Mom, you can be really scary sometimes."

"But it gets the job done, hm?  My scare tactics have been working on you, your brother, and your father for almost two decades now and I have no plans to change to my ways, so get over it, deal with it and make you poor Ma' happy.  I can't rely on your knucklehead father to buy me nice things, he's too busy saving world.  So, I put my faith in you, my firstborn.  If you could just buy me new bathroom wallpaper and maybe take me out to eat at a nice restaurant every other month, then I think I could die a happy old woman." She smiles; smoothing back the dark lock of hair that refuses to stay put and would always lie against her son's forehead.

"Fine, I'll ask."

"You better, because if Momma ain't happy then nobody's happy.  You remember that Gohan because it'll be the difference between instant ramen or fresh grilled beef, steamed rice, and miso soup for supper.  I've got Super Chikyuu-jin Mother's Intuition, so don't think I won't know."

"Momma, Momma, Momma," small chubby fingers tugged gently around her worn dress.  "I wanna gooooo to Trunks house, too.  We're suppose to play tricks on Mr. Vegeta and—"

"Tricks?" ChiChi asks, arching an eyebrow at her youngest son.

"Um..I meant trucks in Vegeta's Gravity room." Goten tries to cover up, though failing miserably as the apple's of his cheeks turn to rose.

"Oh, I see.  Trucks are good.  Much better than tricks, especially tricks involving worms or anything pink.  Your Dad told me once that Vegeta likes those things as much as he likes Bulma's cooking."

Goten's eyes glaze over as the magnitude those two words dance in his mind, worms and pink.  "I bet Trunks' Grandma's flower bed has a bunch of worms in it too."  A huge grin spreads across his face, making him look even more like the miniature doppelganger of their father.

"Well boys, you two should get going before you're late.  Punctuality can mean the difference between flipping burgers and having a six figure salary.  Are you taking nimbus there?" She asks and opens the front door.

"We were planning on—"

"Taking Nimbus," she completes for Gohan, adjusting the starched collar of his white shirt, "Cleanliness is next to Kamiliness too.  Can't have my boys showing up smelling like the sun now." She tucks a loose strand of grey behind her ear.  "Now, get out already."

She shoos the boys out the door.  She looks so tired and her eldest son feels partly responsible.  She's grown older worrying about whether her family could survive the next disaster and how she was going to stretch her last forty-five zenni for the rest of the month until the next welfare check shows up in the mailbox.  Throughout it all, she keeps her children clothed and fed, and still manages to smile when she thinks they're not paying attention.   

"Hey Mom!" She turns, hands on her hips.  "Blue and cream stripes, I think it'd look nice in the bathroom, sort of classic contemporary," he beams widely and she returns it with a small smile of her own.

"Sounds good kid, now get out of here.  I'll see you boys at supper time."  She waves goodbye to her children and walks back into her small domed home. 

Son ChiChi spends the rest of her day completing housework and preparing dinner while she tries to imagine how blue and cream classic contemporary wallpaper would look in the tiny bathroom.

_End_


End file.
